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Leafs shoot down Dion Phaneuf trade rumours

NEWARK, N.J.—If there was a theme around the kind of day Leafs GM Dave Nonis had Friday, it was about the word “No.”

No Maple Leaf is “untouchable.” There’s been no progress on contract talks with Tyler Bozak. No, he can’t talk about Vincent Lecavalier, who remains officially under contract to the Tampa Bay Lightning. No, no one is calling about Dion Phaneuf’s availability, and no he doesn’t “envision trading the captain.

“It’s a foolish word in pro sports, ‘untouchable,’” said Nonis at the team’s hotel, about a half-hour drive from the Prudential Center, site of Sunday’s NHL draft. “Very few players are untouchable.

“There has to be a price tag for everybody. You have to factor in everything, the on-ice play, what does a player mean to an organization, to a city, to his teammates. You throw all those things in before you decide to make a move that will impact the franchise.”

But, no, he doesn’t see one of those trades happening anytime soon. He is, however, all in favour of trading for the negotiating rights to pending free agents.

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However, he doesn’t see it happening. Friday was a “tame day” in Nonis’s words, even as he continues to search for ways to make his team better while also trying to focus on the draft. The Leafs have seven picks, one in each round, including 21st overall.

“You’d like to move up, but the scouts feel there’s going to be a quality player there at 21,” said Nonis. “Obviously, the high end, at the top of the draft, everyone would love to jump in and get a piece of that. That’s probably pretty unlikely for us.

“We’re probably going to pick where we are right now. We have talked to teams and have had picks discussed that are further up the order. At this point, there’s nothing in place for that.”

GMs from all 30 teams have set up camps at hotels all around the New York-New Jersey area.

It’s a strange time to be a GM. Some teams are announcing the buyouts of some big names — Lecavalier — and other teams mulling over buying out big names — the Rangers and Brad Richards.

And the salary cap is going down for the first time in history, by $6 million (U.S.). Between the draft and free agency on July 5, there are a lot of moving parts in a short period of time.

That appears to be causing some sort of stasis.

“It’s different than we’ve ever seen before,” said Nonis. “There are more names thrown out than I’ve seen before. More big, significant names with fewer teams willing to take them, which is not normally the case.

“It’s not because they players are not quality players or quality people. The cap jumping down has a significant impact for what people can do. It may make free agency more difficult. If some teams absorb salary and close the door on what they can do in free agency, then July 5 will be a different-looking day, too.”

Nonis has his own house to worry about.

First off, Nonis does not expect to sign Bozak — an unrestricted free agent on July 5 — before Sunday’s draft.

“It’s not a knock on Tyler, we like him. We’d like him to remain a Leaf,” said Nonis. “We have to look at the amount of money we have under the cap and how do you allocate that and be competitive. That’s the focus for us.”

Talks with Bozak could heat up next week, he said.

As for Lecavalier, the biggest name bought out so far on a list that includes Tomas Kaberle, Nonis couldn’t say anything.

“Vincent is still under contract to another team,” said Nonis. “Until that is not the case, we’re not in a position to talk about him.”

Nonis was at his most interesting talking about Phaneuf. Recent chatter had the Avalanche interested in the Leaf captain, especially if Colorado was going to pass on defenceman Seth Jones in the draft and go with centre Nathan MacKinnon. (The Phaneuf rumour was shot down by sources on both sides.)

“He’s done a very good job for us,” Nonis said of Phaneuf. “Dion gets a bad rap by some people in Toronto. He took a big step for us last year. He was a significant part of our team.

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